Musings

One of my long-time interests has been the iconic “Elastic Chair” of Boston chair maker Samuel Gragg, who produced these sinuous featherweight painted chairs for a few short years somewhere in the window of 1805-1815. Having made a few myself I can see why he switched to technically simpler chairs, but I remain smitten by the form.

At one of the woodworking events in the past I had my Gragg chair there with me on display, and at some point I was absent from its presence and someone sat in the chair who shouldn’t have. The first hand accounts ex poste indicate that the offender was so corpulent (first hand accounts would suggest said person was well north of four bills) that he could not get out of the chair as his flesh has drooped over the seat rails and filled the void of the arms and even below the arms. He was wedged in tight as could be. In the desperate struggle to get out of the chair where he was not supposed to be, the occupant apparently put his forearms on the chair arms with the all the force he could muster on the arms of the chair to pry himself out of it. He was evidently successful in that his bloated dead carcass was not in the chair afterward, but in extricating himself he managed to fracture both arms. Of the chair. He fled the scene with nary a word of acknowledgment nor apology.

After contemplating a solution for the time since and seeing a bit of clear sky in my upcoming schedule (and to get warmed up to build two elastic chairs that I’ve been commissioned to make, but more about that later) I have now decided to undertake the repair. Even though it is something I made myself, thus disposable, I will endeavor to follow the same decision framework I’ve used for for four decades on museum and client artifacts, just to make it interesting. It will be a great learning experience for me.